I'm a beader, I live in the desert. Hence, Beaded Desert. This blog will be about my beading adventures, my trials and tribulations, my random bead-oriented ramblings. Someday, you will actually see project ideas, project how-to's, and finished projects of my own design. Mostly, I will be sorting out ideas and thoughts, posting reminders to myself, and such.
Enjoy!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Week of April 15th-21st, 2007: Update on Goals

I've been busy, busy, busy lately. But I wanted to take some time today to get caught up on my blog. At the end of the first quarter, I wanted to recap on my goals for this year. But I was a bit busy, time got away from me, and before I knew it, the end of April was approaching. So I'm going to do it now.

If you remember, back at the start of the year, I posted a list of Crafter's Resolutions for 2007 . These were crafting and beading related goals that I have for this year. Much more fun than making resolutions to lose weight or exercise more, right? Here's a listing of the goals and my progress with them so far:

Complete one amulet bag. NOT YET

Learn tubular peyote stitch and complete one piece. NOT YET

Learn Ndebele/herringbone stitch and complete one project. NOT YET

Complete two complex Eni Oken tutorials (cuff, necklace) and then complete my own variations on her technique. NOT YET

Buy kit/supplies for PMC and complete two pieces. BOUGHT KIT...

Complete one new metal jewelry piece (cold connection or soldered). NOT YET

Take "Solder 101" class from Metal's Edge Studio. TRYING TO SIGN UP FOR JUNE

Learn basic crochet. STARTED...

Learn to crochet using beads and wire. NOT YET

Paint "Zoo" sign letters and Coca-Cola tray. NOT YET

Woodburing: complete two simple projects such as wall plaques or a trinket box. NOT YET

Learn to sew using the sewing machine (that I bought after the New Year 2006....). TOOK CLASS, MADE A PAIR OF SLEEP PANTS, AND THEY FIT!!

Learn Byzantine weave and at least one other chain maille weave. NOT YET

Sell 5 items (not for charity or to family). SOLD 3 ITEMS....

Have a small in-home show by August. NOT YET

Learn to use all the Knifty Knitter looms I have bought in 2006. NOT YET

Master some complex macrame knotting (micro macrame) and complete one project. NOT YET

Post to Blog at least once every week (and get the links set up, add more pictures, etc). SO FAR, SO GOOD

Well, I wish I had a few more things crossed off the list at this point, but no. I'll start playing with the PMC probably in May, after my course is done. I'll have more time then, and its something that I just need a whole day for really. Same with the metal and wire projects. I need a full day for those, and that's something I just haven't had in a while. I always have something else to do the first half of the day. But summer will be here soon, and I should hopefully have some more free time on my hands. I did buy two CD-ROMs a couple weeks back, one for knitting and one for crocheting. They give audio and video instructions, along with graphics, to teach you how to knit and to crochet. I started with the knitting one first. I just wanted to do something different. Having fun. Still trying to learn to just keep an even tension (tension is really my nemesis in this sort of thing). But I'll dig into the crochet one in the coming weeks. Hopefully it will help me with the bead crochet.

But I recently found a new site that may help me in my goals. Then again, it may hinder me, and keep me from them.... Its called Swap-Bot. Its an online community of Swappers. Basically, people can set up swaps themselves (host a swap) or just join an existing swap, and then send and receive packages in the mail based on the swap criteria. The swaps are often crafty, ATC swaps being the most popular, and some are just plain fun. I joined two bead related swaps. One was to make cell phone charms, the other was to make earrings. Simple, easy pieces, I know. But lately, I've been more interested in larger, more time consuming projects. So I haven't really felt like just making simple earrings. This swap gave me a chance to recollect my thoughts and ideas, and simplify. I cranked out 6 cell phone charms and two pairs of earrings in the past three nights!! That's more than I do in most weeks. Heck, its more than I've done in the past couple of months! It made me feel productive and creative. I felt good. I needed to do that. It was like a breath of fresh air.

And the Bead Circle is doing a little earring swap as well. I'll be working on those this weekend. Its refreshing to go back to the basics, rather than focusing only on complex stitches.

Well, that's about it for this week. Thanks for reading and happy beading!

3 comments:

I tried looking up Metal's Edge online, and found no website. Do you have their June schedule for the Soldering 101 class? If my college schedule can tolerate it, I wouldn't mind getting into that class.

Miachelle, I've had troubles accessing their website from time to time. Here is a link to their metal's classes page:http://www.metalsedgestudio.com/page/page/4190644.htm

They have one in June and one in August. I'm shooting for that June one myself. I recommend signing up for their mailing list too, you'll get the full class list via email right when it comes out. The website hasn't always been updated right away with new classes.